The Schott File:
NAME: Greg Schott
TITLE: President and CEO
COMPANY: MuleSoft
Birthplace: San Diego, California
Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, North Carolina State University; master of business administration, Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
What was your first job and what did you learn? I went to work for Westinghouse right out of college and within two weeks I found myself managing a team of people who were manufacturing nuclear turbines for power plants. There were opportunities for improvement everywhere. I learned that it doesn’t matter whether you have two weeks or 20 years of experience, so much of success is just taking the initiative. Even when you face a big learning curve, don’t worry about making mistakes. There are very few things in business that are fatal, so you’re better off asking for forgiveness than permission.
What is the best business advice you ever received? Jim Collins who wrote “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t” was one of my professors at Stanford Business School. He said that it’s all about who you get on the bus. Meaning the key to success as a CEO is surrounding yourself with amazing people.
Who do you admire in business? It may sound cliché, but the person I most admire is Steve Jobs. He took multiple companies that were dramatically different and made them successful. From computers to iPods to Apple retail to Pixar, nobody’s done that. Plus, tech firms sometimes lose their ability to create as they grow, and he always managed to keep up the pace of innovation.
How did MuleSoft get its name? Frustrated by integration ‘donkey work,’ Ross Mason set out to create a new platform that emphasized ease of development, flexibility and reuse of components by launching an open source ‘Mule’ project back in 2003 and the premise for MuleSoft was born. Mason now serves as founder and vice president of Product Strategy.
